Process Improvements
OnQuest and Born Canada specialize in analyzing and designing innovative heater and furnace upgrades which allow for the use of the latest technology, including improved metallurgical and refractory materials, emissions control equipment, and advances in fuel efficiency. Such improvements can mean different coil configurations and firing patterns, higher strength tube materials that allow higher levels of stress, and improved insulating materials that lower heat loss. Others include installing ultra-low NOx burners or implementing thermal oxidizers or SCR units, as well as increased convective recovery units and air pre-heaters.
Such technological improvements often involve modifying existing heaters within operating plants. At the OnQuest companies, we are familiar with the necessity to complete such projects on a short turnaround schedule. Correspondingly, we design all such heater improvements in line with practical considerations for speed, cost, and project efficiency. In planning the work, we apply our extensive experience in field installation requirements and review the optimal economics of the application. Such considerations are agreed on with our clients in advance, and will depend on their particular operating environment.
Many of today's heaters have been in service for twenty, thirty, even forty years. While technologically advanced at their installation, such heaters can now be substantially improved in process, mechanical operation, and capacity. Along with a myriad of other operational items relating to fired heaters, our customers have asked our engineers to resolve the following issues:
- Pressure drop limitations
- Flue gas mal-distribution
- Emissions limits
- Flame impingement
- Draft problems
- Heat loss
- Tramp air
- Fuel efficiency
- Corrosion
- Capacity limitations
- Safety and shutdown control issues
- Burner management
Our professionals have the experience to address these and the many other related needs of our customers. Our support also includes personalized training programs, commissioning and start-up services, and providing advisory personnel for construction and revamps of most types of heaters. |
